All posts tagged spin

Here in Brighton Sarah Brown kicked things off by providing the warm-up for her husband, for a second year.

Getty Images

She’s extremely polished and it was heartfelt stuff. However, I couldn’t help but find her references to Gordon’s personality traits just daft. Yes, she said, he’s a bit messy, and a bit noisy, and he gets up to too early, but he’s lovely really.

For goodness sake, the man’s 58 years old! Not five! Why do politicians think this stuff helps them, I mean really helps them? The idea is that fills out the Brown personality in the public imagination and adds some colour. But the people watching on TV aren’t fools. They can see the trick that’s being played. They are rightly pretty sceptical after years of such media stunts dreamed up by spin doctors.

And to the extent that voters watching will care they will say: “That’s great for you both, you love your husband and he loves you. But it makes no odds to me. Now, about the recession, spiralling debt and cuts…”